Commercial Sexual Exploitation: Understanding and Responding to Victims 

Every day, young people are deceived, manipulated, coerced, and forced into the commercial sex industry. This multibillion dollar industry targets the most vulnerable individuals in our communities. The Understanding and Responding to Victims Training gives service providers, law enforcement, and community members the tools needed to better serve this marginalized population.

Participants will have the opportunity to:

• Understand the local and national picture of commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC)
• Gain knowledge on how to recognize a pimp and common recruitment tactics used to groom our youth
• Learn risk factors and red flags that might indicate a young person is being recruited or groomed
• Understand your role in identifying victims and responding to disclosures

Nikki Valila, Director of Training at My Life My Choice has spent the past 12 years of her professional career working with commercially sexually exploited girls.  She brings a wealth of experience having worked for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office in the Child Abuse Unit as the lead Victim Witness Advocate on the teen exploitation cases.  In addition to her role at the DA’s office, Nikki was the Program Director of an 8 bed group home for sexually exploited adolescent females outside of Boston.  Nikki served as a consultant on teen exploitation cases at Germaine Lawrence often assisting in the intake of new residents, assessing the Stage of Change a girl may be in and assisting in coordinating sexual exploitation services on campus.  Serving as the Children & Teen Program Coordinator at a domestic violence agency permitted Nikki the opportunity to understand the impact of domestic violence on children and to assist parents in ending the cycle of violence. Nikki has been a trained facilitator of the My Life My Choice Prevention Curriculum for over 8 years and has mentored and trained hundreds of direct care staff/clinicians/DCF workers and law enforcement on strategies in working with sexually exploited girls.  Nikki is a dynamic trainer and advocate and works tirelessly to educate providers on how to provide a trauma informed approach when working with sexually exploited youth.